WhatsApp brings two new safety features for India users; all you need to know

WhatsApp has added new safety features for its India customers that includes message level reporting and flash calls. The message level reporting feature can be used to report accounts by flagging specific messages. Another feature is the flash call in addition to the SMS verification option mandated on the registration process on WhatsApp.

The new features have been introduced to enhance user safety. Apart from its end-to-end encryption feature, other safety features the Meta-backed app offers are control over what to share, blocking contacts, locking apps with Face and touch ID, and disappearing messages etc.

With the new flash feature, users can verify their phone number through automated calls instead of SMS while they set up WhatsApp on a new device or re-installing it on a handset. The feature is available for Android users as well. And by using the path, WhatsApp can call the phone and verify automatically without SMS verification action. According to WhatsApp this is a much safer option as it takes place all within the app.

In the other feature, users can flag a specific message to report an account. One can simply long press a specific message to either block or report a user. WhatsApp moreover said it has banned over 2.2 million accounts in September. The accounts were banned through automated tools kept in place by WhatsApp to trace fishy accounts.

Other safety features that WhatsApp has introduces are the ability to control who can see a user profile photo, status and last seen. Moreover, the app also offers two-step verification to users to add an extra level of security. There are group privacy settings that let users control who adds them.

Moreover, disappearing messages, View Once have been also introduced to enhance the safety of the users.